The present invention relates to improvements in apparatus for carrying and transporting infants and small children. More particularly, it relates to improvements in infant carriers of the type which are adapted to be worn by an adult and serve to support an infant at or about the waist level of the adult wearer.
From time immemorial, adults have carried infant children in the very natural position in which the child's legs straddle the adult's waist with the child's buttocks resting against the adult's hip bone. This position allows the adult to support the child's back with one arm, allowing the other arm to be used for other purposes. While the adult's hip provides some support for the child, it is the arm which bears most of the child's weight. As everyone knows who has carried infants in this manner, the arm soon grows weary and it is necessary to keep shifting the child from one side to the other in order to rest one arm or the other.
To alleviate the strain on the arms of those who carry infants for any extended period of time in the manner described above, many different types of infant-carrying devices have been proposed. Such devices serve, in effect, to shift all or most of the weight of the infant from the bearer's arms to other, more sizeable muscles. See, for example, the infant carriers disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 484,065; 576,292; 2,409,331; 2,411,721; and 3,197,100. All of the infant carriers disclosed in these patents have in common a platform of some sort for supporting the infant, and one or more straps for suspending such platform from the shoulder(s) or neck of the wearer. While infant carriers of this type are advantageous from the standpoints that they do provide a more secure support for the infant, they tend to be problematic in that their associated support straps tend to strain the shoulder and neck muscles of the wearer. Moreover, these shoulder straps are sometimes a nuisance for the wearer to put on, and often present an obstacle in properly positioning the infant in the carrier.